Govt rejects report linking detection of bacterial cases at AIIMS-Delhi to China pneumonia surge

New Delhi: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, has rejected reports claiming detection of bacterial cases at the hospital linked to the recent surge in pneumonia cases in China as ‘misleading’ and ‘inaccurate’.

In a statement, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said, Mycoplasma pneumonia is the commonest bacterial cause of community acquired pneumonia and that the pneumonia cases in AIIMS-Delhi have no link to the recent surge in respiratory infections in children in China.

The statement said that a recent media report in a national daily had claimed that AIIMS-Delhi has detected seven bacterial cases linked to the recent surge in pneumonia cases in China.

“The news report is ill-informed and provides misleading information. It is clarified that these seven cases have no link whatsoever to the recent surge in respiratory infections in children reported from some parts of the world, including China. The seven cases have been detected as a part of an ongoing study at AIIMS-Delhi in the six month period (April to September 2023) and is no cause for worry”, the release said.

Since January 2023 till date, no Mycoplasma pneumonia was detected in the 611 samples tested at the Department of Microbiology, AIIMS, Delhi, as part of ICMR’s multiple respiratory pathogen surveillance, which included mainly severe acute respiratory illness (SARI, which comprised about 95% of these cases) by real-time PCR.

Mycoplasma pneumonia is the commonest bacterial cause of community-acquired pneumonia. It is the reason for nearly 15-30% of all such infections. Such surge has not been reported from any part of India, it said.

The Union Health Ministry is in touch with state health authorities and is keeping a close watch on the situation on an everyday basis, the statement added.